Learning To Trust Again

She saw his expression become even more worried as she continued to stare at him. He said ‘are you okay? Did they hurt you?’

Rebecca pulled herself together and dragging her eyes away, pushed some hair off her face. Her emotions and thought processes, slow to recover from the scare she’d just had, were making her overreact to everything, including the man in front of her. At least that’s what she told herself as she realised he was still waiting for an answer. Scolding herself, she wiped her sweaty palms on her navy blue work pants and flicked her gaze back to his face and then away again. ‘Yes, um I mean no.’

He smiled and said ‘okay well that’s clear.’

Looking up Rebecca was surprised at the sight of his smile. It transformed his face, changing it from the intense, brooding mask he had worn previously to something much lighter and more relaxed. And as she watched all she could think was wow.  Her lungs suddenly devoid of air, she had to take a deep breath before she could reply. Smiling too now as she realised she had been somewhat incoherent, she tried again to form a response that made sense ‘I’m okay now, thanks to you, and no they didn’t hurt me.

But as she watched, the smile dropped from the man’s face. He averted his gaze and his voice was cool and detached when he spoke again. He said ‘so what’s your name?’

Seeing his expression change and not understanding why, Rebecca frowned and hesitated, ‘um Rebecca Burns.’

Brusque and business like, he introduced himself ‘right Rebecca, I’m Jake Hunter, now what happened?’

As she thought about it a shudder passed though Rebecca’s body. She looked away. ‘I was walking home from work’ and looking in the direction of the end of the lane, she continued in a tight voice ‘when those guys came out of a pub. They surrounded me and one grabbed my arm and forced me down here.’

As she said the words, the arm the man had grabbed, started to hurt. Pulling up her sleeve she inspected the scratch and red marks in the shape of a hand that marred the smooth skin of her upper arm. She lowered her sleeve and she knew she had conveyed her fear to the man before her when he said ‘don’t worry Rebecca you’re safe now.’ He then surprised her by asking ‘so where’s home?’

Rebecca lifted her head and looked at him. She didn’t know what to say. This guy had saved her, but he was as much a stranger to her as the guys who had attacked her. What if he turned out to be worse than them? She wanted to be able to trust him but after the experience she’d just had, she was wary of trusting anyone. She looked away from him, frowning as she deliberated on how to answer.

But after a few seconds, when she didn’t respond she saw Jake’s arm move and watched him reach into his pocket. As she looked on, he pulled out a wallet and opening it, revealed a gold badge. He said ‘it’s okay, I’m a cop.’